"Nanoha-chan! Fate-chan! Good morning!"

"Hayate-chan!"

Hayate Yagami happily waved as her two friends ran towards her, returning the greeting. The three of them hadn't been able to have fun together for over a week, so they were especially looking forward to this day. Summer vacation was nearing for the three of them, and that meant studying for tests and preparing for their summer homework. With Nanoha needing the extra time to keep up with her studies, Fate visiting Mid-Childa with her adoptive mother, and Hayate taking in a lost amnesiac mage, the three of them were as busy as ever.

But Summer vacation had now started, freeing the children from the shackles of their busy lives and letting them have the fun they had been craving for so long. Of course, "fun" in the lives of Nanoha and Fate meant more magical training together, so of course that was the first item on the agenda for today before any of them had even eaten breakfast. That and Nanoha and Fate were eager to meet this person that Hayate had taken in.

"So how has she been doing?" Nanoha asked about her, her kind nature not allowing her to not worry about this person when Hayate had described what happened.

"She's recovering really quickly! Shamal's doing a great job!" Hayate cheered, grateful of her knight's healing abilities.

"Has she made any progress in getting her memory back?" Fate wondered, to which Hayate responded with a shake of her head.

"Unfortunately no. I hope she remembers who she is soon. She seemed really upset when she woke up…" Hayate said sadly before quickly regaining her smile as she remembered how she fit in with the rest of her family. As time went on, they learned that she had a very energetic personality that fit in with the rest of the Wolkenritter rather nicely. She got along greatly with Signum, Shamal, and Zafira, but seemed to often butt heads with Vita. Though in Hayate's mind that usually meant that those two would eventually become the best of friends. The trio soon reached the door of the Yagami household, whereupon they stepped inside, and were immediately greeted with the sound of those two arguing.

"Hey! I was watching that!"

"Eeeh? What girl your age watches the news?!"

"Well excuse me for trying to learn more about what's going on in this world when I'm literally clueless right now!"

"I'm back!" Hayate said as she entered the room, all eyes turning to her.

"Hayate! Saaya won't stop hogging the TV!" Vita tattled.

"That's a lie! I literally just sat down!" Saaya shot back. Hayate smiled as she heard the two of them bicker as Nanoha and Fate both grinned embarrassedly at each other. Hayate's patience was something to marvel at, if this had been common in her house the past week.

"Vita, don't you have some work to do later today?" Hayate said as she smiled at Vita. "You should probably make sure you have everything ready."

"Oh shoot! I totally forgot!" The smallest knight cried as she ran upstairs, all her anger dissipating in that one moment. The trio giggled as Saaya sighed in relief now that the little nuisance was gone, before noticing Hayate had company over and quickly remembered her manners.

"Hey, welcome back Hayate! And uh..." Saaya began to speak as Hayate stepped aside.

"These are the two I told you about. Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan!" Hayate introduced the two aces, who promptly bowed and introduced themselves back.

"Oh right!" Saaya rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Nice to finally meet you two! My name's Saaya...at least that's what it is until I can remember my real name..." She chuckled in bemusement, the others doing the same. "So you guys are also magical gi-uh, mages right?"

"Right!" Nanoha nodded happily. "Shamal set up a training dimension for us to practice in today."

"We thought that if you saw our magic for yourself, it might help jog your memory before your interview with Chrono-kun today." Fate added.

"Oh yeah! I've been waiting to see that! Hayate told me all about all the crazy things the two of you can do!" She pumped her fist excitedly. Though her excitement was more or less a mask to hide her true feelings at the moment, she'd be lying if she had said she wasn't interested to see what their magic was like. It felt so weird. The date on this world was more or less the same timeframe she was used to, but the magic apparently was like something out of a sci-fi movie, from how Hayate explained it. It only got her more curious to see it in action the more she heard of it. That and she needed something to take her mind off the stress of meeting with this "Chrono" person later today. Whatever he was like, the friendly atmosphere the three girls in front of her gave off reassured her that there was nothing to worry about.

Sayaka's worry had only continued to grow from that point onwards. That and the overall guilt she had been feeling for the past week. She had been deceiving such a nice family. They had given her the name "Saaya" based off the noise she made when they asked what her name was, and Sayaka's conscience kept making her want to just blurt out the truth every time it was said. It wasn't like she couldn't tell them the truth. They were basically the magic space police! Surely they'd understand that she was on the run to save her best friend from the psychotic-transfer-student demon girl that was holding her captive, right?

Of course she couldn't, Sayaka thought as she pondered how to explain things. Even after learning how the TSAB worked, a story like that would probably get her sent to some kind of looney bin! That and no matter how strong she was, these people wouldn't be a match for Homura. No, she couldn't let them get anywhere near that monster.

"Shoot!"

"Fire!" Nanoha and Fate's voices cried out throughout the dilapidated city they were dueling in, snapping Sayaka out of her trance. She stared in awe as the two young girls kept shooting giant lasers at each other and tearing the scenery apart. If Madoka saw them, Sayaka didn't know if she'd be amazed or horrified. The kind of firepower those two had was insane, and they were three grades below her in school!

But firepower aside, as much as she hated to admit it, they still wouldn't be a match for Homura. Sayaka clenched her fists. It wasn't fair! How could Homura basically just grab Madoka and take her abilities as a goddess like that? In the span of a minute Homura basically gotten the kind of power to make the universe her own personal plaything. The only thing on Homura's mind seemed to be making Madoka happy, damning everything else for all she cared.

But...she wasn't invincible, that much was certain. The sounds of Nanoha and Fate's duel began to fade in the background as Sayaka's mind flashed back to the events that led her to being locked up by Homura.

"Homura-chan! You don't understand! We're in da-"

Madoka attempting to resist Homura's control and warn her of something.

"Go back...it's okay...you don't have to change…"

Homura interrupting her and using all her strength to erase her memories once again.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Sayaka charging towards them to free her best friend.

"Sayaka-chan! It's no use! Listen to me!"

Sayaka's Soul Gem glowing brightly for a split second as Madoka shouted to her telepathically.

"Take this and get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you like this!"

"You have to hurry! I can't hold out against her much longer! Please listen! You have to find him! You have to find Ozpin!"

That was the last thing she heard her say before everything had reset again, only this time with Sayaka as Homura's prisoner. She sighed. What exactly did Madoka give her? Who was Ozpin and how was she supposed to find him? How come Madoka didn't tell her or Nagisa about him before? What was she supposed to do when she found this mysterious person?

"Saaya-san?"

Would he know how to free Madoka from Homura's clutches?

"Saaya-san?"

Would he also have a plan to defeat Homura?

"Saaya-san?!"

"GAH!" Sayaka screamed, flinching to her right. Rein, Hayate's little fairy friend, or "Unison Device" as she called her had snuck up to her shoulder without her noticing. She had forgotten that she and her caretaker had been standing there the whole time.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" The little fairy-girl apologized as she started bowing. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

"Rein, it's all right." Hayate reassured her. "Are you remembering anything, Saaya-san?" She asked, hoping Nanoha and Fate's little skirmish helped out.

"Uh...No not really." Sayaka lied, she was actually in the middle of remembering a lot of things. A lot of important things that she should be telling these people, her own conscience kept screaming at her. "Well...seeing stuff like that does feel a bit familiar though." She mentioned, watching Nanoha and Fate finish their duel with an explosion of pink and yellow lights.

"Oh I'm so glad!" Hayate clapped her hands. "That's at least better than nothing, right?"

"Yeah…" Sayaka chuckled softly, her head turning to look at Nanoha and Fate in the distance. Their barrier jackets were torn and they were covered in bruises, and yet the both of them were giggling and laughing like their intense showdown just now had never even happened. They were just two magical girls, able to have a friendly spar without a care in the world. Indeed the scene in front of her was familiar, reminding her of a times when she thought she could have this kind of life.

The kind of life she thought that being a magical girl would give her.

Suddenly, a holographic screen appeared in front of both of them, with a blaring red graphic that said CALLING on it. Hayate pressed her finger on it, and the two of them were then greeted with the image of a tall, cyan-haired woman smiling at them.

"Hayate-san, good morning! Are Nanoha and Fate still in the air?" She spoke.

"They just finished, Lindy-san!" Hayate replied, causing Sayaka to immediately stiffen up. This person was the Admiral Lindy Hayate spoke about? She was standing in a kitchen and dressed so casually. From what Sayaka heard of her position she expected her to be a bit more imposing, and she certainly wasn't expecting to be meeting with the head honcho so soon!

"All right." The woman said as she turned to look at Sayaka. "You must be Saaya-san, correct?"

"Y-Yeah, that's me." Sayaka said nervously, the woman's kind smile not wavering, which relieved her somewhat.

"It's good to see that you seem to be recovering well." Lindy noted as she looked back at Hayate. "Tell Nanoha and Fate to come down and we'll all have breakfast together. After that, we'll see if we can help you remember anything, Saaya-san."

"Sounds good!" Sayaka replied, a drop of sweat rolling down the back of her head. As far back as Sayaka could remember, she was never a good liar. Hayate was nice and didn't really pry that much, but these TSAB people were probably gonna bombard her with questions she wasn't prepared to answer. She doubted that "I can't remember" would hold up as a good response for much long against them.

That and Sayaka was also dreading this examination she was apparently going to recieve. If these people were magic experts, would they find out about her soul not being in her body? Was she going to have to pull off the exact same reaction as when she first discovered that awful truth? She wasn't exactly good at feigning surprise either.

Sayaka gulped as Nanoha and Fate flew back over to them and they started making their way to the latter's apartment. There was nothing she could do other than keep her cool. And pray that something would delay this examination for later.

"All right. These spots should be good enough."

"Should we wait until tonight before we get started?"

"Nah, the girl wants this done as soon as possible. Let's report to Cinder and start the fun."

The day for the most part had gone smoothly. Sayaka had found breakfast to be a pleasant experience at the Harlaown household. So far, no tough questions had been asked of her that she couldn't hand-wave away with the amnesia excuse, and she was able to act like her normal, energetic self. She learned more about how magic in this world worked, and found herself particularly fascinated by Alph when introduced to her.

Though Sayaka wished she wasn't referred to as a "familiar", as that term had a completely different meaning in her memories with Madoka. The idea of mages being able to turn animal souls into humans sounded like something out of a fairy tale to her. However that image in her mind was quickly soured once she imagined what Kyubey's human for would look like, and shuddered. Nevertheless, everybody she had met in this world so far, save for that little brat Vita, had been easy to get along with, and for the first time in a while, she was able to enjoy herself.

But as she feared, the time had soon come for the tough questions to be asked. It was around noon when storm clouds started to cover the skies, as if to reflect the bad feeling bubbling in her stomach. The door to the apartment opened and two young boys walked in.

"Ah Chrono-kun! Yuuno-kun!" Nanoha said, welcoming them. Sayaka grimaced as she heard the name of the former. This was it.

"Good to see you two." Chrono greeted Nanoha and Hayate before looking towards Sayaka.

"Sorry we're late." Yuuno spoke up. "Chrono stopped by the library to ask me about the Conv-Ow!" He said before Chrono lightly jabbed the librarian in his side with his elbow, making him quickly realize what he was about to say and changed his wording. "Uh, the CONfirmation about the possible forms of magic Saaya can use."

"Uh, wouldn't it make more sense to talk to her first, THEN go to you about that?" Alph questioned.

"That's...uh…"

"Don't worry about it." Chrono spoke up. "Unfortunately, the Arthra won't be available until tomorrow due to a last-minute delay with the upgrades. So the examination will have to wait for later."

"Yes!" Sayaka mentally cheered.

"However, I thought it'd be best to go forward with interview today regardless."

"No!" Sayaka mentally despaired.

"Now, Miss Saaya?"

"Y-yeah?" Sayaka asked, not liking the boy's tone. While it wasn't exactly hostile, it was the kind of tone that indicated that he was one of those no-nonsense types.

"It's good to see that you've made a full recovery...in the span of a week." He said, Sayaka noting the traces of suspicion in the latter part of that sentence.

"Curse my stupid fast magical girl healing! You couldn't have fixed me just a little bit slower?!" Sayaka thought, never imagining ever having to feel that way.

"First, I'd like to ask you-"

The room suddenly shook as everyone's ears were filled with the sound of an incredibly loud roar. What was initially assumed to be thunder from the storm turned out to be far more intimidating than that, as that roar droned on for several seconds, growing louder and louder, before suddenly going silent. Before anyone in the room had a chance to recuperate from the disturbing noise, an alarm suddenly started blaring throughout the apartment. Then, holographic monitors displaying the word EMERGENCY appeared before everyone in the room.

"Chrono! Everyone! Can you hear me?!" A voice rang out from one of the monitors before an image of a young brown-haired woman was displayed.

"Amy! What's going on?" Chrono asked.

"We're picking up large readings of dimensional interference from above the sea! Take a look!" Amy responded. Suddenly, the images on monitors changed to show a picture of the sea near Uminari's shoreline, and the sight made everyone in the room's blood go cold.

A dark, swirling vortex of some kind had appeared over the ocean, and out from it flew monsters that nobody in the room had ever seen before. They were giant, winged monstrosities, each of them probably about the size of a small plane. Their bodies were pure black, with the only other colors on them being the small bit of white that was on their heads, and their pupiless red eyes.

"What are those things?!" Nanoha cried.

"We don't know, but whatever they are, we can't let them reach the-oh no!" Amy shouted. "Another one just appeared over the mountains!" The images on the monitors changed again, showing footage of the area Amy mentioned. Like the vortex over the sea, more monsters began to fly out of it. But unlike the winged ones flying towards the city, these ones seemed to be land-based, as some of them walked on their hind legs, and others on all fours. Many of them resembled common animals found on Earth, with some looking like bears, boars, and wolves. But all of them had that terrible black, white, and red aesthetic that sent shivers down the spines of every magical girl in the room.

"Deploy barrierers over the surrounding areas quickly!" Chrono turned around and ordered the mages. "Nanoha, Fate. Take care of the ones over the sea! Hayate, we'll contact the Wolkenritter to help you deal with the ones near the mountains! Hold them off while we figure out how to deal with those portals!"

"Roger!" The three of them cried out, ready to defend their city. Sayaka grit her teeth as she looked at them, worried. She wanted to help out, but doing that would mean revealing everything about her. She hated to admit it, but she was going to have to play the role of the innocent bystander for this one. Her eyes widened once she felt Hayate's hands grasping her own.

"Saaya-san. Stay with Lindy-san and Chrono-kun." She told her, her voice calm and relaxing, yet firm in her resolve. "You'll be safest with them. We'll protect our city and be right back, okay?" She said with a smile.

Sayaka could only nod in response. Her own guilt didn't allow her to speak.

"Raising Heart!"

"Stand By Ready."

"Bardiche!"

"Get Set."

"Set up!"

Nanoha and Fate both quickly donned their barrier jackets as soon as they were teleported to the Uminari shoreline. Taking to the skies, they prepared to confront the horrifying beasts heading towards the city,with Yuuno and Alph joining them as well for support. When they got there, they were shocked to see that the monsters were already extremely close to the city. Reacting quickly, Yuuno managed to set up a massive barrier before any nearby civilians would be affected.

That's when something strange happened. The incoming monstrous bird creatures suddenly stopped charging towards the city. They just continued to flap their wings, almost as if they were confused by what had just happened. In that moment of silence, the group managed to get a good look at their soon-to-be opponents.

These creatures seemed far more intimidating up close than on a screen. Combat wise, they didn't seem like anything Nanoha couldn't handle. What bothered her was the fact that she had never felt anything like the vibes these things were radiating. It was a pure killing intent. Whatever these things were, one look at them up close told her that they wanted them dead.

Fate shuddered at the monstrous aura those things gave off along with Nanoha. It was like she could feel herself being targeted by them. With every caw that came from their large beaks, Fate could almost hear the declaration of war they were declaring. She didn't understand how, she didn't understand why, but she knew in that moment that both she and Nanoha may be in for the fight of their lives.

For each of those birds hadn't simply just stopped, they had turned their attention towards them. As soon as the barrier went up it was like they had forgotten everyone in the city had existed, and began charging towards them. Grasping Raising Heart and Bardiche, the two young mages flew away from each other to lessen the amount of opponents they had to deal with.

"Axel Shooter" Raising Heart's robotic voice stated, preparing the spell. Nanoha flew as far as she could from the beasts, before firing a circle of energy bolts at them. All they managed to do was slow them down, but that was exactly what Nanoha needed. Knowing that these birds wouldn't go down without a fight, she quickly shifted Raising Heart into Exceed mode.

"Excelion…Buster!" She shouted, quickly charging a large bolt of energy before firing a massive beam, taking out three of the birds that got what Nanoha felt was a little too close to her. Despite that, there were still more in the air heading towards her, so she couldn't celebrate that little victory. With Raising Heart primarily geared towards ranged combat, she needed to stay as far away from these birds as possible. Fate wasn't having that much of an easier time herself. She knew she needed to keep her distance until she found an opening, which was difficult due to the sky swarming with these monsters.

"Photon Lancer." Bardiche stated, with Fate following Nanoha's example. Her increased speed allowed her to get a little more distance before she fired them. "Haken Form." Fate then followed her attack up by transforming Bardiche into the form of a scythe. With a fierce battle cry, she propelled herself forward with him in front of her, slicing off their wings and sending them hurtling towards the sea. Fate then sternly looked at the rest of the birds in the sky, before moving on to fight the rest of them.

The birds continued to pour out from the portal, one after the other. They were relentless in their assault. Nanoha and Fate kept evading their strikes and retaliated with various forms of shooting and melee attacks, respectively. While they had certainly faced more dangerous threats in their lives as mages, even they could only last so long against a horde like this. But they had faith that their superiors in the TSAB would find a way to close those portals.

Alph and Yuuno continued to support the two mages as best as they could, using their binding spells and force field magic to at least try and slow the birds down, while the former managed to get some hits in herself.

"What the hell do these things want?!" Alph mentally asked, growling as some of the birds managed to fly past her, almost as if they were prioritizing targeting Nanoha and Fate. Giving a full-force punch to another one of them, Alph thought about how these creatures immediately stopped charging towards the city and focused primarily on the mages as soon as the barrier went down. She looked towards Yuuno, and was shocked to see that he seemed to be as much of a target as Nanoha and Fate were. Yet for some reason many of these birds, when they got close, flew straight past her. While they weren't avoiding her, for the most part they were certainly ignoring her. But why?

"Something doesn't make sense here…" She thought to herself as she looked back towards the city, noticing something in the corner of her eye. A small gasp left her mouth, as she saw a figure standing on a nearby rooftop. She couldn't make out much of his details from that far, but she did notice a smirk that appeared to be on his face. Her suspicions only grew once he backed away before jumping off the rooftop he was on, landing on another one and dashing away.

"Alph!" Fate said as she flew closer towards her familiar, slicing through another one of the birds. "You noticed him too?"

"Yeah." Alph growled. "And I've got a feeling he knows something about this."

"Fate! Alph! Nanoha spotted another non-combatant near us!" Yuuno shouted telepathically from his end. "I'm moving in to question her!"

"I'll do the same with that guy." Alph said back, both internally and externally towards Fate. "Can you handle yourself out here?" Fate nodded.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. As big as they are, they're really not that strong." Fate replied. While that wasn't technically a lie, Fate didn't tell Alph that she found herself using more magic than she'd like to just to put one of these things down. But she couldn't worry about that right now. If those two non-combatants indeed knew something about this, or were even responsible, they might know how to close those portals. "Help out Yuuno! Don't let them get away!"

"Right!" Alph cried as she flew towards the suspect.

"Alph!" Fate yelled once more, her familiar turning in response. Fate's eyebrows then furrowed, with concern welling up in her eyes. "Be careful."

"Yeah." Alph replied with a confident smirk, before flying towards the man once again.

This couldn't have been more risky. But it was working out.

As useful as that girl had proved herself, Mercury had to admit he really didn't like her calling the shots along with Cinder. He also hated how right they tended to be on things. Here he was, standing on a rooftop watching the fight from afar. When he first saw this "Nanoha" and this "Fate" in the briefing, he thought he could take out the both of them easily. Kids that were probably half his age he could totally handle right?

Then he read what they could do. Then he saw what they could do, taking down groups of Nevermore like they were nothing. He realized what that girl meant. Back on Remnant, it was difficult enough for a Huntsman or Huntress to take down even one of those things, let alone a horde of them. When he heard the strategy of unleashing them to fly towards the city, something in the back of his head still made him think he'd be watching kids get eaten alive in an instant. But no, she wasn't kidding when she said they were strong.

Strong as they were though, they were still kids. And kids get tired really fast when they play outside, he chuckled to himself. But as much as he wanted to jump into the fray with them himself, orders were orders. Emerald had already gotten the attention of one of their friends, now it was his turn to do the same. He made eye-contact with the wolf-faunus from afar, before jumping away to the other rooftops, further away from the Nevermore brawl.

"Hey!"

He stopped, hearing the brash voice yelling at him from behind. Turning around, he saw the wolf-faunus standing right in front of him, looking at him angrily.

"Are you the one who sent those things? Answer me!" The wolf-faunus clenched her fists, and assumed a fighting stance. Mercury eyed her curiously. There was anger in her eyes, her arms were off balance, and her legs were completely in the wrong position. Well, the right position for an amateur, anyway.

He recognized something familiar about that stance. What was it? Oh right, he had taken that stance before. Every time he would spar with his father. And every time he faced him that way, his father responded by making sure that pain would be the only thing he'd be able to feel for the rest of the week. A smirk adorned Mercury's lips as he took a stance of his own.

He supposed it was only fair this faunus should be given the same courtesy. This was about to get a lot more entertaining.

"Showtime."

150 YEARS, 5 MONTHS, 1 WEEK, 3 DAYS, 5 HOURS, 2 MINUTES UNTIL THE CONVERGENCE.

NEXT CHAPTER: SHE'S HERE.